Wednesday, January 13, 2016

18 Days Cruising on Holland America's Amsterdam

(on the Amtrak on the way to board our ship in San Diego)

So first a little update for those of you that followed our
family’s around the world adventure.Both of the kids are in college these days and we don’t get to see nearly
enough of them.We all think
fondly of our special year, and the kids even admit they are happy that I took
all those photos and kept the blog!Mark has since settled happily back into his real estate development
activities, and I graduated from my doctoral program, making use of our RTW as
the subject of my dissertation.Special thanks to all of those families that allowed me to interview
them!

Part of our paying for college plan has included continuing
to rent out our house in Los Angeles, so as the Christmas season approached I
began to think about what we might do as a homeless family again over the
holiday.I found an 18 day cruise
that departed from San Diego, traveled through the Panama Canal and arrived in
Ft. Lauderdale just in time for the kids to start back to school (Peyton in
Miami and Wilder in Nashville.)I
ran it by the family and once again they fell for it! Seriously though, I feel very
blessed to have a family that thinks my crazy ideas are good ones.I am also very grateful to my parents,
as our initial plan (to make 18 days affordable) entailed putting all four of
us in one tiny cabin, but their Christmas gift allowed us to upgrade to
two.No doubt this contributed to
everyone’s good mood through out the trip!

So I’ll start with what I like best about cruising.Cruise ships are a great way to get to
a lot of different countries without all the hassles of traveling via other
modes of transport, like dealing with airports, packing and unpacking etc.In addition the travel between
destinations is super comfortable, we’re talking down comforters, drinks poolside
etc.There are other niceties too
like linen tablecloths and napkins, onboard spa, gym.Cruising is also great for families as people of different
ages can enjoy each other but also have their own time and space.Kids can stay out late and sleep in
later and one group can work out at the gym and play basketball while another
reads a novel on deck.But don’t
you get bored during the days at sea?Well speaking for myself – no.To me the ocean view never gets boring and I regularly spotted sea life
including dolphins, sea lions and even a shark.The wooden steamer chairs with their striped cushions are
very comfortable, the sea days are very relaxing and they go by quickly. I usually find the on-board
entertainment kind of lacking but for the Christmas cruise they seemed to up
their game.In particular I
enjoyed all of the access to live music.

Ok now for the things I’m not so crazy about.Overall all our food was pretty good,
and we had a couple of meals we thought were outstanding, but after a while all
of the food begins to taste alike.Then there is the fact that regardless you just seem to eat too much of
it, as there is always more on offer.Another major complaint we have is the lack of wifi – or rather the cost
of wifi, which is outrageous.The
Amtrak has free wifi.Why can’t our
cruise ship?Finally our biggest
beef however is that you just aren’t in each port long enough to get a feel for
a location.Cruising is definitely
wham bam thank you ma’am type of touristing.

The kids also complained that 1400 or so people weren’t all
that many when the trip was so days long.And, as usual, there were a shortage of young adults in their age group.For me that just meant I got more of
their company though. 18 days of uninterrupted family time – priceless!

Ok – on to the ports.Our first stop was Puerto Vallarta.This is a well-established tourist destination with lots of
activities on offer.Mark and the
kids opted for a zip-lining/trekking adventure, while I chose to visit the
aquarium and old town.All of
us would have voted to get off the boat and stay a few days.

The next port was Huatulco, Mexico which is primarily a nature preserve. Here we took a 44-foot sailing sloop up the coast to one of the pristine bays and swam and snorkeled off the boat. It was really beautiful. We spotted a whale and stingray, and one of the kids on board caught a couple of fish.

Our third Mexican port was called Puerto Chiapas which was a
port created for cruise ships to give them access to a very rural part of
Mexico featuring primarily coffee and banana plantations.With our excursion budget running low,
we elected to forgo anything formal and spent out time on the pier accessing
the low cost wifi.We were also
resting up though as this was Christmas Eve and the ship makes a big deal with
a great meal and Christmas carols.Then the staff of the boat does a special 11pm show that features songs
from the countries the staff represent.It was worth staying up for.Finally we opted for the interdenominational midnight service over the
midnight mass.Some of us
questioned that decision however when the Catholic Mass let out earlier!All in all though it was worth staying
up for.

One of the biggest draws of this particular cruise for me was
the ports in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and Guatemala in particular did not
disappoint.We arrived Christmas
morning and took a bus to Antigua, a very pretty colonial city.While many places were closed due to
the holiday, we did get to see the locals celebrating the holiday in various
ways.One of my favorites was
listening to a choir sing Come All Ye Faithful in Spanish in a beautiful
old cathedral.There was also a
spectacularly loud firework display in the square.We also got to eat a variety of tasty street food.Finally though we had perhaps the best
meal of our trip, Christmas lunch, at a beautiful hotel.It consisted of corn tortillas made on
a grill while we watched - chiles rellenos, grilled steak and chicken, black
beans, rice and fresh guacamole.That is our kind of soul food, and for Christmas dinner it did not disappoint!

In Nicaragua we hired a taxi to drive us to local town and
show us around a bit.There were
no tourists to be seen and our cab driver, who had lived a while in Miami, told
us they only get one cruise ship per month.The kids had wanted to “volcano surf” an activity that
consists of sledding over steep volcanic sand, but alas that activity was only
available out of Leon, a fair distance from the ship and didn’t leave us enough
time.In the end our taxi got a
flat tire and the boys helped to fix it and get us going again. On that day we were happy to get back
to the boat.

(I really wanted these - aren't they beautiful?)

Next up was Costa Rica where our family had been
previously.The commercial port we
docked at however was further north and not especially scenic.We ended up getting a cab into the
local town, sitting on the beach a while, taking a dip in the warm water and
grabbing a street taco or two.I
felt bad for the other passengers if this was all they got to see of beautiful
Costa Rica.

(I think I forgot my camera on this day.)

So now we have three days at sea, which will include the
hopefully very cool crossing of the Panama Canal.I think we are all ready for some “rest” days.I however lost a bet and therefore am committed
to whatever onboard family “activities” Mark and the kids dream up – keep me in
your prayers!